Soap Opera Genre –

Independent Textual Analysis

Name: Chloe HaynesCandidate Number:1141Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number:64135

OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Trailer 1 – Coronation Street: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w51KhdDSeto

Verbal Codes –

The non diegetic soundtrack at the start of the trailer has a very fast and fast in tempo. Throughout the trailer at some points the soundtrack goes quieter then builds back up again, which makes the audience feel tense. The fast beat also connotes that lots of things are happening in the soap opera, confirming the multi-stranded narrative usually associated to this genre. The soundtrack is also synchronized to diegetic dialogue in the trailer for emphasis on the audience to make them watch on. An example of synchronise sound is then non diegetic sound of an explosion with dialogue when a character says “I feel like I’m going to explode” Another sound effect used is echoing of diegetic dialogue to create atmosphere for the audience to think that the is a ghost of the dead body and it is still there in the house .Other examples of diegetic dialogue “Act like nothings happened”, “what if they find the body”, “it’s over we've finished” connotes to the audience that the soap opera involves a lot of different real life situations and emotions that the audience go through and may be able to relate to.The majority of the diegetic dialogue sounds angry, sad, worried and mysterious which represents what happens in this soap opera and what kind of events that will come up later in the series for example from this trailer I can see the soap opera will revolve around death money problems and affairs. The verbal code of the Non-diegetic voice over at the end saying “he's gone” without the characters on the screen gives the mystery of who killed the person so makes the audience want to keep watching to find out what happens and who killed him.

Non-Verbal Codes –The non-verbal sad and angry facial expressions signify to the audience of how the characters are feeling or how they interact with other characters.The costumes worn at the end of the trailer when the characters are talking about Callum are very dark colours, the colour mainly focused on is black. The colour black normally symbolizes death as that is worn at funerals so it connotes to the audience that the character they are talking about is dead. During a lot of the scenes in this trailer the lighting is very low key or dull when bad things happen this signifies the mood or atmosphere which portrayed to the audience as miserable or upsetting which audiences like so they think that there life isn't as bad as what is shown on TV. At the end of the trailer there is low key lighting in the background because they are talking about a dead body. The darker background ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) the death may have happened in that house or is hidden in the house.However the lighting changes to high key lighting when people are hiding information about the death and pretending everything is as normal or when something more positive is happening during the trailer, so the trailer is not all doom and gloom about deaths.The majority of the scenes were in location that where private so no one else would no about it because they don’t want anyone to know and no one was travelling in the sense so everything happening is local.

Technical Codes –At the beginning of the trailer there is an establishing shot of a drain which looks to be in a building site beside it there is a red colour effect which represents blood so connotes to the audience there could be danger or a dead body under the drain. Another shot effect is used with disequilibrium (Todorov) of the camera signifies that the character may be very anxious or get so worried they become to feel unsteady.The technical code of fast pace cuts is used to connote to the viewers that there are lots of things going to happen in upcoming episodes of Coronation Street. Another technical code in the trailer was Split screen shot one character who looks very worried and the other shot was of where the body is hidden to Signify that the person could be the murderer suspect makes the Audience question who it is so the continue to keep watching to see what happens.The technical code of Zooming slowly in on Carla denotes the importance of her character. She is also standing stuck in the middle of two ‘villians’ (Propp) which connotes that she could be in a bad situation in upcoming episodes and could be in danger. This also makes the scene more intense for the viewers by the slow zooming.Another technical code and post-production effect used was transitions like a ‘camera recording effect’ which denotes that certain people are being watched at this time by police because of the missing body which makes the audience more curious or give an idea of who killed Callum.

Shot reverse shots as well as zooms are frequently used with diegetic dialogue to establish relationships between two characters to emphasize the characters facial expression weather they have a positive or negative relationship with others.Finally high and low angle shots are used in this trailer to ‘signify’ (De Saussure) to the audience the characters have more power or who are dominant over other characters at the end scene the couple are seen a superior to the one girl standing by herself trying to threaten them.

Trailer 2 – EastEnders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upBV74yw7vg

Verbal Codes – Diegetic sound is present in the trailer when the phone rings, which connotes to the audience that someone is in need of help or there is a problem about to come up and the viewer wants to keep watching to see who is calling at the pub.Diegetic dialogue in this trailer such as “How can you sleep at night”, “our marriage is over", "welcome home” establishes all of the stereotypical problems within the soap opera genre to attract the audience, such as relationship problems and old characters coming back into upcoming episodes.The diegetic ambient sound effect of a phone calling in background connotes to the audience that maybe someone knows something about Lucy's murder and is waiting to call police to tell them who killed Lucy.The non diegetic sound track: Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing- Chris Isaak, used throughout the trailer say “they did a bad thing” these lyrics connote that someone has done a bad, thing the word the ‘they’ connotes more than one person has done a bad thing and even more than one person is involved in the murder of Lucy.Once Jane says “It was bobby” the changes a little but then towards the end the soundtrack then changes back and stops when they find out about bobby which will shock the audience as this also now makes jane look like a ‘false hero’ (Propp).

Non-Verbal Codes –Locations in this trailer vary from a court hearing room, houses, train station and an airport runway which suggests that it is filmed in a busy place for example a city.The non verbal code of Low Key lighting with scared faces signifies that something bad and depressing has happened on the square and jane is feeling threatened by Phil. The low key lighting on Phil's face makes him seen as ‘villain’ (Propp).When Lee Wipes away mist of mirror to show his face connotes that he may have been hiding something about Lucy's death and has now been cleared from any suspicion, This makes the audience question who else could have murdered Lucy so they continue to watch.The technical code of the broken frame shot of flames between camera and the characters signifies the division or conflict between characters. The flames connote danger so the audience knows something bad is comping up in a later episode.The colour of costumes that are dark connotes to the reader that they are bad people or bring negative atmosphere to the square but characters dressed in brighter clothing are seen as innocent and are more positive characters, for example when Dot get out of the car she is dressed in light colours and there is high key lighting this connotes the positivity she brings to the square.

Technical Codes –The slow zoom when Mick walks towards the camera connotes to the audience he is in charge of the pub and it quite a brave or tough character as he approaches the cameras.The technical code over the shoulder shot with the view of the reflection in the mirror with Jane refusing to look in the mirror connotes that she is ashamed of something and could behind something about Lucy's death.The close up shots of people faces clearly signify the characters facial expression and connotes to the reader how the character is feeling through facial expression for example when Phil grabs jane by the neck she looks terrified this then makes the audience feel sympathy for Jane.The technical code of fast pace shots connotes all people shown had done a bad thing and also the fast pace shots suggest that it is a very busy place with lots of thing happening.The low angle shot of Dot as she arrives onto the square connotes to the audience that she is a very important character and everyone sees he as a person to look up to.

Evaluation of Textual Analysis – Compare and Contrast

Trailer 1 Coronation street) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) or “exploit” (Abercrombie – 1995) From this trailer I would ‘repeat’(Steve Neale) the split screen shot because it suggests that a character may be guilty for something and makes the audience think it is them.

Also From this trailer I would ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995 the use of High and Low key lighting to reflect the atmosphere of felling of the characters to the audience.

Finally From this trailer I would ‘Repeat’(Steve Neale) the synchronized sound effect with dialogue as it is very effective and gets the audiences attention to continue to watch.However I would keep the diegetic dialogue to a minimum so the audience cant guess the storyline in the trailer so it keeps the audience waiting.

Trailer 2 EastEnders) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) or “exploit” (Abercrombie – 1995) From this trailer I would ‘Repeat’(Steve Neale) the over the shoulder shot with the reflection of the characters faces to show how the characters are feeling through their facial Expressions.

Also From this trailer I would ‘Repeat’(Steve Neale)The soundtrack playing from star to finish to attract the viewer at the beginning and shock them at the end. However I will not have a constant sound effect in the background because it might make it more difficult for viewers to hear the dialogue.

Finally From this trailer I would ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995 transitions used in the trailer because is makes the trailer more dramatic and to interest the audience.